COMMENTARY/LETTER-The Decade of Vaccines: An Opportunity to Prioritize Data Collection- Analysis and Use within National Immunisation Programmes

Abstract

Despite remarkable improvement in global immunisation coverage during the past 30 years- progress has not been uniform. The reasons underlying sub-optimal progress are many- but perhaps one of the most important and overlooked is that national immunisation programmes too often have not received the appropriate support and tools to facilitate the gathering- managing- analysing and reporting of data in a manner that enables taking action to ensure quality and sustainability of the programme. However- it is not only an issue of lacking capacity within these programmes- but also one of political will and commitment to invest in data collection- data management- analysis and reporting. The Decade of Vaccines provides a unique opportunity to highlight the importance and increase support of data and information systems that feed the sound evidence base needed to move global immunsation forward during the next ten years.